Drought Impacts Many California State Parks

California’s drought is beginning to dry up the water supplies for some state parks, including some of the system’s most popular places.

According to an Associated Press report, restrooms with flush toilets have been closed at D.L. Bliss State Park at Lake Tahoe, the Hearst Castle Visitor Center and Hearst San Simeon State Park, replaced with portable toilets. The showers at D.L. Bliss, San Simeon and Portola Redwoods State Park also are shut down.

Each park relies on a local water supply, and in some cases, that’s a creek or spring. D.L. Bliss, which gets more than 12,000 campers a year, relies on a spring that dropped noticeably just before the Fourth of July weekend.

What water remains at the affected parks is being reserved for potable water at individual campsites and for firefighting, California Department of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Vicky Waters told The Associated Press.

Some of the closures, such as at D.L. Bliss, are coming at the height of camping season. She said campers who have reservations are being notified through automated phone calls and will be allowed to cancel without penalty.

“We’re really trying to minimize the impact to our visitors because we know how important it is … but we’re in this situation across the state,” Waters said.